Triple jumper Lázaro Martínez reaches podium in winter season debut

January 31, 2024

The triple jumper finished second at the French athletic meet in L'Eure, won by Hugues Fabrice Zango, from Burkina Faso. Fellow Cuban Cristián Nápoles finished in fourth place.

Cuban triple jumper Lázaro Martínez, runner-up at the most recent outdoor World Athletics Championship, achieved his first podium of the season this Sunday.

Martínez finished in second place at the indoor meet in L'Eure, based in Val-de-Reuil, France, an event with silver category status in the World Athletics Indoor Tour.

In what represents his debut in the current winter tour, the Cuban stretched to 16.81 meters to set his best mark in a competition won by Hugues Fabrice Zango, from Burkina Faso, according to press reports.

Zango, the reigning world champion, dominated the competition from his first attempt with 17.15 meters, a mark that the rest of the competitors could not come close to. The third place went to Algerian Yasser Mohammed Triki (16.66).

Outside the podium, in fourth place, was Cuban Cristian Nápoles (16.30), bronze medalist at the Budapest 2023 World Championships, also now involved in his first competitive experience of 2024.

Cuban triple jumpers are preparing for their participation in the World Indoor Athletics Championship, which will be held in the Scottish city of Glasgow.

At that event, Lázaro Martínez will defend the title won in the previous edition held two years ago in Belgrade.

His next competition is scheduled for February 6 at the Orlen Copernicus Cup, taking place in Torun, Poland. There, as now in France, his fellow countryman Nápoles will also compete.